The use of glass fluorescent tubes for general purpose lighting has increased dramatically over the last several decades driven by energy savings and longer bulb life. Today, the use of fluorescent lighting is a major source of illumination in home, commercial, and office applications.
While the operating life of a glass fluorescent tube is longer than an incandescent bulb, the fluorescent tube has some drawbacks. These drawbacks include their use of rare-earth elements and other potentially toxic phosphors to generate light. This presents a problem when fluorescent tubes cease to function and then require disposal. The phosphors can present a toxic waste situation. Also, because the envelope of the tube is thin glass, the potential risk for accidental breakage and exposure to sharp broken glass and the scattering of toxic material is high.
Newer technology lighting devices such as Light Emitting Diode (LED) Light Tubes and Bulbs are becoming more widely available and at lowering costs. These LED Lighting devices have a longer operating life and to not have the issues of glass fragility or toxic material disposal of a glass fluorescent gas tube.
One major area of benefit would be to allow the use of these newer long life LED Lighting Tubes or Bulbs to replace the glass fluorescent gas tubes. However, existing fluorescent lighting luminaires or fixtures incorporate a Magnetic or Electronic Ballast to turn on the gas within a glass fluorescent tube through the use of various voltage and current techniques. There are many different start-up techniques to light up the gasses in a fluorescent tube. Some of these techniques called Pre-heat, Rapid Start, and Instant Start use different combinations of current and high voltage to excite or warm up the gasses in the fluorescent tube to enable the tube to become fully lit.